Game 65 Recap: Transit Thriller

Ballers Take Down the Mobiles 13-9 in a Thriller at Raimondi Park 

by Anthony Brooks

WEST OAKLAND—It was a beautiful warm Saturday afternoon at Raimondi Park in Oakland where 2,431 of the Baller faithful watched the Ballers take on the RedPocket Mobiles in the second game of a six-game series.  There was no shortage of offense in this one, as the Ballers went back and forth with the Mobiles before finally pulling away for the 13-9 win.

The Ballers, who were coming off another big win last night, had the right-hander Hunter Day on the mound facing off against Ryan Velazquez for the Mobiles.  

The scoring kicked off in the bottom of the second with the Ballers loading the bases on a hit by Tristan Moore, followed up by TJ Rogers getting hit by a pitch.  Velazquez then proceeded to walk Brendan O’Sullivan, giving the Ballers the first run of the game.  Esai Santos then promptly hit a hard grounder to the Mobiles first baseman, Jordan Harrison-Dudley, who bobbled the ball, allowing Santos to reach and another run to score giving the Ballers a 2-0 lead.  The runs continued coming in with Jaden Collura smashing a line drive to right field allowing Rogers to trot home.  Jake Allgeyer then hit a bloop single to center scoring Santos and O’Sullivan and giving him two of his five RBI on the afternoon. The Ballers had a 5-0 lead after two as the crowd roared with delight.

RedPocket got on the board in the top of the 3rd when Efrain Manzo drove a pitch from Day over the center field wall for a 2-run home run.  In the fifth, with the Ballers up 5-2,  the Mobiles tied the game on singles from Harrison-Dudley and former Baller TJ McKenzie. Maxim Fullerton then ripped a triple down the right field line bringing them home, knocking Day out of the game.  Reed Butz then entered for the Ballers and the Mobiles went ahead 6-5 on a walk to Josiah Chavez and a fielder's choice.

In the bottom of the 5th, the back-and-forth on the scoreboard continued as Allgeyer led off with a single to right field followed by Jeter Ybarra lining a single to left field and then Noah Blythe hitting a line drive shot to center, giving the Ballers three straight hits in the inning loading the bases. After a pitching change for the Mobiles, new hurler Philip Sanders walked in a run, scoring Allgeyer, and then Rogers hit a deep fly to right field, allowing Ybarra to tag up from third and score the go-ahead run and giving the Ballers a 7-6 lead.

However, that lead was short-lived—as they all seemed to be on the day—as RedPocket stormed right back with another home run to left field by Manzo to briefly tie the game in the 6th.  After a walk, Ballers manager Aaron Miles brought in right-hander Brock Mayer who gave up a hit to Fullerton driving in Harrison-Dudley to once again give the Mobiles the lead 8-7.

Keeping with the theme of the game, in the bottom of the 6th after walks to Santos and Collura, Allgeyer drove a fastball on a 2-1 count 415ft over the left field wall for a three-run home run (his 12th on the season) giving the Ballers the lead for good. 

I asked Allgeyer about his approach in the at-bat and he said of the pitcher, “This was a guy that sinks the ball a bit, so I was looking for a ball up in the zone to try to get underneath it and to stay out of the double play, and just hit the ball hard.  I got something up I could handle, and give all the glory to God.”

Speaking with Esai Santos after the game, he credited this point of the game as the momentum shift, saying, “The last couple of innings where we put up back-to-back runs gave us some breathing room and let our pitchers work a little bit…”

The Ballers would go on to score two more in the bottom of the 7th, and the Mobiles would tack on one in the ninth for the final score of 13-9.  The teams go at it again Sunday afternoon at Raimondi Park in the third game of the series.

Odds & Ends

• This afternoon was Ride the Rally night where it was all about celebrating the public transit systems that keep Oakland connected through BART and AC Transit.

• The BART Police Color Guard presented the colors for the singing of the national anthem.

• Jake Allgeyer was player of the game with 3 hits, 5 RBI, 1 home run, and 2 runs scored.

• Brock Mayer (1-0) picked up the win for the Ballers, and Philip Sanders (1-1) recorded the loss for the RedPocket Mobiles.

• The Ballers scored all their runs without any extra base hits aside from Allgeyer’s three-run home run.

Anthony Brooks is a lifelong baseball fan who enjoys attending games with his son. He is founder of Brooks Creative Photography where he focuses on high school sports photography and fine art photography. He resides in the East Bay and is a Ballers fan owner.  You can find him on Instagram.